Just Between Us
by Princess Pinky
Summary: Toby needs help, so Emmett makes sure he gets it.


**A/N: **Something for the Toby/Emmett fans. Spoilers for 1x05.

_**Just Between Us**_

Emmett's arm instinctively flung backward as a pair of hands landed roughly on his shoulders. It embedded into something malleable, until the object in question disappeared. Immediately, the blonde shot off the seat of his motorcycle and felt the vibrations of his landing from the soles of his boots all the way up through his legs. It wasn't kosher to sneak up on the deaf, but of course most people didn't know that. Lying in a crumpled heap behind his bike was a redhead – more peach than red, actually – and Emmett contorted his face at the sight.

Toby wound his arms around his assaulted stomach and growled like a wounded cub. He pushed himself into a sitting position with his left arm, then used the back of Emmett's bike to claw himself up until he was standing, face-to-face with the deaf boy. "Why are you following me?" he sneered.

Emmett stared blankly at the older boy, then serenely folded his arms across his chest. He looked Toby up and down a couple of times, then turned his head to look across the street where a neon sign was advertising that they would pay the highest price for anything you had to sell.

Toby followed Emmett's gaze, then scoffed. "What I do in my free time is none of your business." He never registered the fact that Emmett hadn't even been looking at him. "And besides, _you_ were the one who walked out on _me_, remember?"

Emmett returned his attention to the ginger just in time to catch the last ten words coming of his mouth. He grit his teeth and tugged his arms free of one another. All Toby had a chance to see was a flash of Emmett's leather jacket before the latter's fist came in contact with his jaw.

Toby slumped against the tree that was shading the area behind him and instinctively moved his hand to his jaw, cradling the injury with his palm. A saltiness filled his mouth and he spat onto the green grass, saliva swirling with blood. He curled his tongue around the inside of his mouth, before feeling a raw meaty spot on the side of his cheek, where his teeth must have gnashed when Emmett punched him. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" he swore, followed by the expulsion of another mouthful of blood.

Emmett reached into the inner pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out his cell phone. From his peripheral vision, he could see Toby's look of confusion: a deaf boy with a cell phone. It wasn't the first time. But he ignored it as he ran through his menu, before finally pulling up a picture and shoving it into Toby's face.

Staring back at Toby was the sunshiny face of his biological sister, Daphne. He felt his fist curl against his jaw. "Daphne put you up to this?" he demanded, this time staring right into Emmett's scowling face.

Emmett snapped his thumb against his index and middle fingers, right in front of Toby's nose, causing the latter to momentarily think Emmett was about to pinch his nose between his fingers. Frustrated, the blonde began to wildly punch his thumbs against the keys on his cellular before thrusting the device back into Toby's face: _She had nothing to do with this!_

"Then why are you following me?" Toby queried again.

Emmett pulled his phone back again and began to type something else, all the while keeping a silent eye on the redhead from the corner of his vision. Finally, he showed the face of his cell to Toby again: _YOU HAVE A PROBLEM!_

"Yeah," he sneered, using the tree to heave himself off the grass. _"You!"_ He smacked his hand across Emmett's phone, knocking it into a bush. "I don't have time this! I have places to be – debts to pay off – thanks to you and my so-called _sister_." He moved to step off the sidewalk towards his car, simultaneously disarming the alarm with the keychain from his pocket. "Don't bother following-" His words were cut off as Emmett's hand fell to his shoulder and whirled him around, only to be met square in the face with Emmett's fist. The last thing he remembered was feeling like he needed to vomit before everything went black.

* * *

><p>When Toby awoke, the first thing he realized was that he was sitting in his car. Specifically, the passenger side. The second thing he noticed was that he ached. <em>Everywhere.<em> Like the rush of Niagara Falls, it all came back to him: he'd headed for the outer city limits early that morning with his trunk filled with valuables for pawn shops where people wouldn't recognize him and it wouldn't get back to his parents. Two hours later, he began catching flashes of a guy on a motorcycle in his rearview mirrors. Slowly, he began to realize it was the same guy, every time, and then it dawned on him: he only knew one guy who rode a motorcycle and he looked very much like his leather clad highway stalker. By noon, he'd worked out a plan to confront Emmett and that was how he'd ended up with the bruise – he couldn't see it, but it sure felt like a bruise – on his gut, the bite on his inner cheek that he couldn't stop touching with his tongue, and the pain radiating from his nose which he guessed was swollen, even without looking.

Toby grunted and attempted to roll to the side, only to realize that he was buckled in and said buckle tightened around his torso, where Emmett had elbowed him. He groaned like a haunted house and pressed his fingers against the buckle, releasing it from holding him in place. He slumped to the side and slid his hand down the side of the chair, fingering for the release until he found it and the seat slumped back into a lying position way too quickly. His head thumped against the head rest, sending a bolt of shivers through his teeth. "Ahhh!" Toby withered and cursed the fist that Emmett had been endowed with and assumed that if he couldn't hear, it had to be made up for somewhere else.

At that moment, it suddenly occurred to him that Emmett was nowhere in sight. He flicked his eyes around the car. He tried to replay the last moments of his conscious memory in his mind's eye. He definitely had not been in his car, which meant that someone had to have put him there, and the only one around had been Emmett. So, according to Occam, that would mean that Emmett had put him in the car. "But then where is he?" Toby grabbed at the seatbelt and yanked himself up to look out the windows. It was black; nighttime. They were in a parking lot, with only a few cars scattered about and it was nowhere that he recognized. "What the hell…"

The redhead reached for the door handle, only to realize there was a piece of paper folded around it. Confused, he tugged it off and opened it up. In black ink it simply read: _Car's armed. Don't open the door._ Toby crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the floor. He was about to fall back into the seat when he shook his head. "Moron. He's deaf! He couldn't hear the alarm even if he wanted to!" He smacked his palm against his forehead and grimaced, immediately regretting it as prickles of pain rushed through his sore skin. Trying his best to ignore them, he pulled the door handle and immediately the blaring of his car alarm filled his ears. Somehow it seemed louder than usual, the way things did when he had a hangover, even though he wasn't drunk today.

"I need a phone," he spoke out loud. As the thought occurred to him, he reached into his pocket, but of course his cell wasn't there. He cursed to himself as he fumbled out of his car and onto the asphalt. His head spun as the blood rushed away from his head, as it sometimes did when he stood up too fast, especially after laying down for extended periods of time. He waited for his vision to clear and then he began to take in his surroundings. There were a couple of buildings around, none of them clearly marked, but of course the closest was the one he was parked in front of. "Emmett's probably in there." As the words tumbled out of his mouth, the front door opened, and Emmett walked out, followed by an Asian man who looked maybe eight to ten years older than Emmett.

The Asian man gave a jovial wave as they walked down the steps. "You must be Toby!" he called, sounding far too perky for this late at night.

Toby groaned. Of course, Emmett may not have been able to hear the alarm, but if he was with a hearing person, that person could. "You in on my kidnapping too?" he snapped in reply.

The Asian man smiled as he rounded Toby's car with the blonde and held out his hand. "I'm Kai. It's nice to meet you!"

Toby glared down at Kai's hand and then back up to his rounded face. "My phone got stolen," he replied, directly his attention at Emmett. "I need to make a call."

"No problem," Kai replied conversationally, unaffected by Toby's rudeness. "We've been waiting for you to wake up to make a call."

"What call?" Toby asked, suddenly suspicious.

Kai looked at Emmett, who returned the look, then the latter stuck his hand into his pocket and retrieved an orange piece of paper that he extended to Toby. The look on Emmett's face wasn't exactly blank, but not friendly either. Pitiful, maybe?

After a tense moment of nothing but ambient noise, Toby snatched the paper from Emmett's fingertips, ripping it at the edge. He held it to his face: _Help_, the top of the pamphlet read. Beneath it were a list of names and numbers, among them: _Gamblers Anonymous_ and _Rehabilitation_. Toby balled up the paper and threw it to the side. "Who the hell do you think you are? I _do. Not._ Have a problem! And this is none of your business!"

Kai smiled sympathetically. "I used to say that too. Most of us don't know we have a problem; can't see the forest for the trees. I didn't, Regina didn't-"

Emmett interrupted him by laying his hand onto Kai's forearm. The latter turned in Emmett's direction and he shook his head.

Kai stuck his thumb and pinky finger out on his left hand and tucked his middle three fingers into his palm, forming the hand shape for the letter Y. Then he bobbed his hand up and down and simultaneously nodded before turning his attention back to Toby.

"Regina?"

"We take in all kinds of people who need help," Kai said, changing tracks. "And then we get them into groups, specializing in an individual's trouble. Emmett brought you here because he thinks we can help you too and I'm confident we can. So what do you say?"

Toby grit his teeth. It was cold, he was sore, pissed, and all he wanted to go was get home, crawl into bed, and stay there for a year. "I say _screw_-" His voice fell flat as Emmett held a cell phone up in front of Toby's face. Not Emmett's cell, but Toby's. The LCD screen was lit up and it was vibrating in Emmett's hands. The caller I.D. was flashing _Mom_.

Emmett hovered his thumb over the _Talk_ button and gave a sideways glance to Kai. He fingerspelt _K-A-T-H-R-Y-N K-E-N-N-I-S-H_, pressed _Talk_, and handed the cell to Kai.

Kai lifted the cell to his ear. "Mrs. Kennish?" he asked tentatively. He pointed the speaker towards Toby as Kathryn's voice filtered through it.

"Who's this?"

Toby gripped the edge of the door, glaring daggers at Emmett. He watched as Kai pressed the _Mute_ button.

"Hello?"

"Should I let her know you need a ride?" Kai asked, raising his eyebrows.

Emmett pulled out a small rectangular object from his pocket and opened it, flashing Toby's driver's license at him to show the redhead that it was in his possession.

Toby puckered his lips and forced out, "Don't tell her…"

"Don't tell her what?"

Toby hung his head. "What do you want me to do?" he sighed.

"Toby? Are you there?" Kathryn's voice crackled, a little more frantic.

Kai unmated the phone. "Sorry, Mrs. Kennish. We hit a rough spot. This is a friend a Toby's, my name's Kai. Toby's a bit busy at the moment, but I'll have him call you back in say…" He looked down at his watch. "Ten minutes?"

"Kai? I don't think Toby's mentioned you before," Kathryn's voice said suspiciously.

Emmett formed his index fingers into hook shapes and hooked them together, right finger hooked over the left finger, then rotated his hands and did the motion again, with the left index hooked over the right index.

Kai nodded. "I'm a friend of Emmett's," he said. "Emmett just introduced us today."

"Oh, well, Emmett…alright. Okay. Just have him call me back shortly then."

"Will do," Kai nodded. "Bye Mrs. Kennish. Lovely speaking with you." When the call ended, he turned back to Toby. "We have an emergency GA meeting in about twenty minutes," he said softly. "We'd really like you to join…"

Toby swallowed the palpitating lump in his throat. As much as he detested the idea, he detested his parents finding out about his gambling, which would then lead to them discovering how much money he'd lost the other night. Just the thought of what they might do sent him into a cold sweat. He gave a feverish nod. "Yeah, fine," he hissed. "Whatever. But this stays between us." He looked right at Emmett. "I mean it! Nobody knows! Not even Daphne!"

Emmett nodded and motioned his hand towards the building. He watched with a stoic face as Toby wobbled up the steps behind Kai and disappeared into the front door. He waited a moment, then bent down and picked up the crumpled Gamblers Anonymous pamphlet and unfolded it, revealing a subtle smile on his lips.


End file.
